FRJINK P. BLfilR P08M0.1 

Dept, of Mo. G. A. R. , bu ,uq 

ADDRESS 

-OF- ti R A p : 

Colonel Wells H. Blodgett, 


... ON THE OCCASION . . . 

... OF THE . . . 

DEDICATION OF THE MONUMENT 

. • 

Erected at Beliefontaine Cemetery , St. Louis , 


TO THE MEMORY OF 
THE LATE 



TOGETHER WITH THE 


PROGRAMME OF EXERCISES AND PROCEEDINGS 

-OF- 


FRANK P, BLAIR POST NO. 1, 

Department of Missouri , G. A. R. 

IN THE MATTER OF THE ERECTION AND DEDICATION 
OF THE SAME. 


PUBLISHED BT FRANK P. BLAIR POST. 


St. Louis, Missouri. 
1S94. 
















ADDRESS 


-OF- 

Colonel Wells H. Blodgett, 

... ON THE OCCASION . . . 

... OF THE . . . 

DEDICATION OF THE MONUMENT 


Erected at Bellefontaine Cemetery , St. Louis , 

TO THE MEMORY OF 
THE LATE 



TOGETHER WITH THE 


PROGRAMME OF EXERCISES AND PROCEEDINGS 

-OF- 


FRANK P. BLAIR POST NO. 1, 

Department of Missouri , G. A. R. 

IN THE MATTER OF THE ERECTION AND DEDICATION 
OF THE SAME. 


PUBLISHED BY FRANK P. BLAIR POST . 
St. Louis, Missouri. 

1S94. 






{ Programme of Exercis es 

-AT- 

Bellefontaine Cemetery, 

-ON- 

MEMORIAL DAY, May 30th , 1894, 

ON THE OCCASION OF THE 

DEDICATION. 


1. —“AMERICA,” .... Vollratii’s Orchestra. 

2. — PRAYER, . .... Rev. Dr. Anderson. 

3. — SONG, “Integer Vitae,” . . . . Quartette. 

Messrs. Ernst H. Keisker, B. Dierkes, 

E. Dierkes and Waldemar Leo. 

4. —ADDRESS, . . COLONEL WELLS H. BLODGETT. 

5. — SONG, “ Kreutzer’s CEapel,” . . . Quartette. 

6. —“ NEARER, MY GOD, TO THEE,” . . Orchestra. 

7. —TAPS. 



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THE ADDRESS. 


Commander , Comrades and Friends: 

While multitudes of loving hands all over the land are covering 
with flowers the grassy mounds wherein rest the ashes of the silent 
army, we gather here to perform a no less grateful task. We come 
to honor the name and noble qualities of comrade John McNeil. 

Outside his own family, he was best known and most loved by 
his comrades of Frank P. Blair Post No. 1, and this monument not 
only marks his grave, but it marks more plainly the affectionate 
regard in which we hold him. Of all the ties that bind men together 
none are so enduring as the companionship of arms. The dearest 
memories of the soldier, are of those with whom he shared the fatigue 
and dangers of march and battle, and he cares not whether they stood 
in the ranks, or wore eagles, stars or bars upon their shoulders ; to 
him, the old comrades are doubly and trebly dear, because in the 
same uniform and under the same flag they marched and fought 
together. It is that feeling of comradeship which brings us here 
to-day to unveil this monument and present to the world, in the light 
of history, the true character of the man around whose grave we 
have assembled. 

John McNeil belonged to the highest type of the American 
volunteer Reared in the peaceful pursuits of life, the war found him, 
at the age of forty-eight, one of the prosperous merchants of our city. 
When the flag of his country was assailed at Fort Sumter, he neither 
waited nor asked for a commission, but took his place in the ranks as 
one of its defenders. 

When in the spring of 1861, Lyon took possession of the arsenal 
at St. Louis and called for volunteers, McNeil offered himself as a 
private in the regiment that soon afterwards made him its commander. 
When, on the 10th of May, Lyon marched on Camp Jackson, McNeil 
was by his side. His was known as the 3rd Regiment United States 
Reserve Corps, and Lyon’s appreciation of him is shown in his order 
of May 16, 1861, directing him to take command of the city of 
St. Louis, and act in such manner as he might deem most likely to 
prevent any disturbance, and quell any that might arise. 

On account of the good judgment displayed by him in the 
preservation of order in the city, he was kept on duty here until July, 
when with four hundred men he was dispatched into Callaway County, 
where, on July 17, he routed and dispersed a Confederate camp more 




6 


The Address . ' 


than a thousand strong, commanded by Gen. Harris. In that 
expedition McNeil was to have had the co-operation of a regiment 
under Col. Hammer, but that officer left the river at Hermann and 
went north into Montgomery countj^. When it was learned in St. Louis 
that Hammer had not gone to his support, and that McNeil with his 
four hundred men was pushing on to attack a force of nearly three 
times his number, much apprehension was felt for his safety, and 
when the news of his victory was received there was great rejoicing; 
and Gen. -Chester Harding in his report to Gen. Lyon said: “You 
can hardly imagine my anxiety, and afterwards my relief, when I heard 
from that brave fellow, McNeil, and learned that he had fought and 
routed the enemy.” 1 

Returning from his expedition against Harris, he was, on July 
28th, 1861, again appointed military commander of St. Louis by Gen. 
Fremont, and charged with the responsible duty of taking such 
measures as he might from time to time consider necessary for the 
safety and protection of the city. 2 

His first regiment had only enlisted for three months, and when 
their term of service expired he reorganized them and entered the 
service for three years. He remained on duty in St. Louis until the 
spring of 1862, when he was placed in command of a district in north¬ 
eastern Missouri, with headquarters at Palmyra. 3 

We cannot on this occasion attempt to follow him in detail through¬ 
out all his campaigns, but the battle of Ivirksville on Aug. 6th, 1862, 
is deserving of mention: It was after a long and tedious pursuit of a 
Confederate force twenty-five hundred strong which had been organized 
north of the Missouri river, that McNeil, with one thousand men and five 
pieces of artillery, overtook them at Ivirksville. The Confederate com¬ 
mander had expelled the people from the town and occupied the houses 
and buildings with his force. McNeil arrived with his troops ready for 
action at ten o’clock in the morning; but the enemy being concealed 
in the houses and buildings, he could not discover them, and then 
it was that Capt. John N. Cowdry, of Merrill’s horse, volunteered to 
ride with eight men through the streets of the town to draw the fire of 
the enemy, that McNeil might learn their position. It was a most 
perilous task, but at the word of command, Cowdry and his men dashed 
down the street and around the public square, in the face of a very 
storm of bullets that came from behind the houses, barns and fences. 4 
As soon as McNeil was, by that gallant action, advised of their position, 
he opened upon them with muskets and artillery and poured shot and 

iReb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 3, p. 402. 

2Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 3, p. 410. 

3Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 13, p. 417. 

4Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 13, p. 214 & 217. 



The Address. 


( 

shell into the buildings from which their fire had come. The battle 
was stubborn, and raged for three hours without cessation, at the end 
of which time the enemy retreated in disorder. So well did he pro¬ 
tect his own troops, and so skillfully and effectively did he handle 
his artillery, that his loss was only twenty-eight killed and sixty 
w ounded; while that of the enemy was one hundred and eighty killed 
and about five hundred wounded. McNeil also took a large number 
of prisoners, and when the enemy retreated he pursued them with 
such vigor that at the end of a month, after numerous minor engage¬ 
ments, the whole Confederate force was scattered and they disap¬ 
peared as completely as though the earth had swallowed them up. 

In his official report of that engagement to the War Department, 
Gen. Schofield said: “ Our troops behaved with great gallantry and 
were handled with consummate skill by their commander, Col. John 
McNeil.” For his distinguished services in that campaign, Gov, 
Gamble made him a Brigadier-General of State troops, and on 
November 29, 1862, Mr. Lincoln made him a Brigadier-General of 
volunteers. 6 

In the spring of 1863, we find McNeil in command of the Federal 
forces in Southeastern Missouri, and not long after his assignment to 
that command, it was ascertained that Marmaduke was approaching 
Cape Girardeau with a force of six thousand men and ten pieces of 
artillery. 7 Cape Girardeau was at that time an important military 
depot, and the object of Marmaduke’s advance was to capture the 
supplies and interrupt commerce on the Mississippi. When Gen. 
Curtis, the department commander, first learned that Marmaduke was 
moving north with so large a force, he detached a brigade from the 
army of the frontier, then stationed near Springfield, Missouri, and 
ordered it to move in the direction of Holla, so as to be in position 
to reinforce McNeil if necessary. I was at that time a member of the 
37th regiment Illinois volunteers, commanded by Colonel John C. 
Black, and that regiment was one of those designated to reinforce him. 
Arriving at Rolla after a succession of forced marches, we hurried 
aboard a train, and were brought to St. Louis. From the depot we 
were double-quicked to the river, and on the morning of April 26 we 
arrived at Cape Girardeau. That was my first service under McNeil. 
The fight was on when we reached the wharf, and when the fresh 
troops arrived and advanced to the front, the enemy was soon 
repulsed and a victory won. But McNeil was not the man to be 
satisfied with the mere repulse of an enemy. He wanted to capture 
him, and as soon as he saw Marmaduke in retreat, he ordered his 

0Schofield’s report, Reb. Records, Vol. 13, p. 15. 

«Reb. Records, Vol. 13, p. 583. 

7Reb. Records, Vol. 13, p. 279. 




8 


The Address . 


army in pursuit, and for days he followed, capturing many prisoners, 
and much transportation. Arriving at Chalk Bluffs on the St. 
Francis river, Marmaduke made his last stand, and after a battle, 
lasting an hour, he was compelled to retire from his position and 
resume his retreat. On that occasion I was a witness to McNeil’s 
fearless courage. Riding to the front on a handsome horse, he was a 
conspicuous mark for the enemy’s bullets, and soon the horse was shot 
from under him; but, nothing daunted, he mounted another, furnishd 
by one of his staff, and ordering up a battery, he poured such a fire 
into their ranks as soon compelled the enemy to retire. 8 

In that campaign Gen. Wm. Vandever was his immediate superior, 
and Gen. Curtis, in a letter to Yandever, said: “Tender my thanks 
to the officers and soldiers of your command for their energy and 
courage and the victories they have won. Gen. McNeil’s gallantry 
will deserve a separate and special mention.” 9 

In July, 1863, he was placed in command of the district of south¬ 
west Missouri, with headquarters at Springfield. 10 In the fall of that 
year, Gen. Sbelby left the main body of Price’s army in Arkansas, 
and with a force that was increased to twenty-five hundred, he captured 
Boonville on the Missouri, from which point he was compelled to turn 
back. McNeil joined in the pursuit and followed him from the Osage 
river to the Arkansas, during which time he had many skirmishes and 
captured many prisoners. 11 For the courage and skill displayed in 
that campaign he again received the thanks of the department 
commander. 

In October, 1863, Gen. Schofield ordered McNeil to succeed 
Gen. Blunt, as commander of the District of the Frontier, with head¬ 
quarters at Ft. Smith, 12 where he confronted, and held in check, 
a force of double his own, commanded by Gen. Wm. Steele, of the 
Confederate army. 13 

In August, ,1864, he was placed in command of the district of 
Rolla, and during the Price raid into Missouri, in the fall of that year, 
McNeil was one of the most vigorous of his pursuers. He was at the 
front in every fight and skirmish. 14 When that campaign was over, 
Gen. Rosecrans, then commanding in this department, thanked him in 
the heartiest and strongest terms for the skill, efficiency and vigor he 
had displayed. 15 

I have not attempted to trace his career in detail. He was never 

SReb. Records, Vol. 22, part 1, p. 276 & 259. 

9Reb. Records, Vol. 22, part 1, p, 282. 
i oReb Records, Vol. 22, part 2, p. 378. 
i iReb. Records, Vol. 22, part 1, p. 650. 
i2Reb. Records, Vol. 22, part 2, p. 666. 
i 3Reb. Records, Vol. 22, part 1, p. 34 
14Reb Records, Vol. 41, part 1, p. 371—377. 
i 5 Reb. Records, Vol. 41, part 1, p. 316. 




The Address. 


9 


idle, and it would take a volume to describe the numerous engage¬ 
ments, great and small, in which he commanded or participated. 
I have only outlined the character of his service and mentioned a few 
of his campaigns. 

With the expulsion of Price from Missouri in the fall of 1864, the 
war was practically ended in this State. There were many officers 
who operated in larger fields and had larger opportunities, but none 
who discharged their duties with more zeal and fidelity. He always 
met the expectations of those who depended upon him, and in every 
position in which he was placed and every campaign in which he served, 
he received the thanks and commendation of his superiors. He was a 
man true to his convictions, fearless on the field, kind and courteous 
to his subordinates, and loyal to his country and his friends. 

And now, having brielly traced his career in the field, let us turn 
back and consider a matter for which he received much censure from 
those who have, perhaps more through ignorance than malice, 
endeavored to hold him responsible for a state of affairs he did not 
produce and a policy he did not inaugurate. I refer to the military 
execution of ten men at Palmyra, Missouri, October 18, 1862. 

Perhaps no event of our whole war has been so much discussed, 
and the facts so little understood, as that. As a rule, those who have 
written on the one side, have indulged largely in vituperation and per¬ 
sonal abuse of Gen. McNeil, without considering the orders under which 
he acted, or the state of the country at the time the execution took place. 
While on the other hand, those who have approved his action, have 
generally represented the men executed as desperate criminals, without 
considering the policy of the Confederate authorities who were, in 
truth, responsible for the species of warfare the men had been con¬ 
ducting. Neither side has been quite right, for, as a matter of fact, 
the men executed seem to have been carrying on the war in a manner 
justified by . the Confederate commanders, while McNeil, in executing 
them, was carrying out a policy of his government and the orders of 
his superiors. 

The accusation against McNeil has been, that he violated the rules 
of civilized warfare , by wantonly executing ten Confederate soldiers who 
had , by the adverse fortune of war, fallen into his hands as prisoner's. 

It is to that accusation we must make reply, and in so doing we 
shall speak from no partisan or political standpoint. If the charge is 
not true, its refutation should be so clear as to satisfy every fair-minded 
American, citizen or soldier, regardless of all political considerations 
or the side on which he fought. 

It is not’ in what we think, or in wliat we may say, that his 
vindication lies. The world cares little, and will little heed, our mere 


10 


The Address. 


opinions. We must present the record and leave the world to sa}' 
whether upon that he should stand acquitted. 

No one who knows anything of army life, or military discipline, 
would ever think of blaming an officer or soldier for obeying any order 
received from his superior in command. Therefore, if it shall be made 
to appear from the record that in executing the men at Palmyra, 
Gen. McNeil was not only acting under orders, but that what he did 
was subsequently approved by his superiors, then the responsibility is 
at once shifted from his shoulders, and the question of whether the 
orders were right or wrong, becomes a question for discussion with 
taose who issued them. 

In order that those not already familiar with the subject may 
understand the question, it is necessary for us to refer to the fact, that 
the Federal and Confederate authorities in Missouri were never in 
accord with respect to what the rules of civilized warfare permitted. 

In 1861, after every organized Confederate force has been driven 
far south of the Missouri river, Gen. Sterling Price claimed, that under 
the rules of war, he had the right to send ununiformed men from his 
army, through the federal lines, into north Missouri to recruit for his 
army, and destroy railroad bridges, telegraph wires and all other 
public lines of communication. As a consequence, when these men 
appeared and began their work, they operated in small squads, and 
lost no opportunity to fire, even from ambush, on all passing bodies qf 
Federal troops, and they also robbed and preyed upon the Union men 
of the localities in which they operated. They were commanded by no 
regular officers, and when captured they pretended to be peaceful 
citizens of the locality. 

To put a stop to this kind of warfare, Gen. Halleck, commanding 
the Federal forces in this department, on December 16, 1861, wrote 
to Col. Birge, commander of the Federal forces at Centralia, Missouri, 
as follows: 16 

“It is said that parties of men are cutting down telegraph posts and 
attempting to destroy the railroads. Shoot down every man engaged in scch 
attempts. * * *” 

As the situation throughout the State was daily growing worse, 
Gen. Halleck, on December 22, 1861, issued from department head¬ 
quarters, his General Order No. 32, in which he said: 17 

“ Insurgent rebels scattered through the northern counties of this State, 
which are occupied by our troops, under the guise of peaceful citizens, have 
resumed their occupation of burning bridges and destroying railroads and 
telegraph wires. These men are guilty of the highest crime known to the 
code of war and the punishment is death. Any one caught in the act will be 
immediately shot.” 


i <>Reb. Records, Sec. 1, Vol. 8, p. 439. 
17Reb. Records, Sec. 1, Vol. 8, p. 463. 




The Address. 


11 


On December 23, 1861, Gen. Halleck sent instructions from 
department headquarters to the Federal commanders at Pacific City, 
Sedalia, Otterville, Syracuse, Tipton, Hermann, Sulphur Springs, 
Mineral Point, Ironton, Chillicothe, Cameron and St. Joseph, as 
follows : 18 

“ Look out for bridge burners. It is reported that concerted attempts 
will be made to destroy railroads and telegraph lines. Shoot down every one 
making the attempt.” 

On December 26, 1861, Gen. Halleck addressed a communication 
to Gen. Geo. B. McClellan, who was then General-in-Chief of the 
army in Washington, which contained, among other things, the 
following: 19 

“ These bridge burnings are the most annoying features of the war. They 
are effected by small parties of mounted men disguised as farmers, but well 
armed. They overpower, or overawe, the guards, set fire to, the bridges and 
escape before a force can be collected against them. Examples of severe 
punishment are the only remedies. I shall carry out, in this respect, my 
General Order No. 32, inclosed herewith.” 

In connection with the foregoing letter it must be remembered, 
that his General Order No. 32, which Halleck said he would carry 
out, was one in which he had said that “any one caught attempting to 
destroy a railroad bridge or a telegraph line, would be immediately 
shot.” And again, on December 30, 1861, Gen. Halleck wrote Gen. 
Prentiss, who then commanded the Federal troops in Northern Missouri, 
telling him to “handle these bridge burners without gloves.” 20 And 
on December 31, 1861, Gen. Halleck wrote Gen. Pope, then in com¬ 
mand of the Federal forces at Otterville, Missouri, a letter in which 
he said: 21 

“It is a well-established principle, that insurgent and marauding, pre¬ 
datory and guerrilla bands, are not entitled to be treated as prisoners of war. 
Such men are, by the laws of war, regarded as no more nor less than murderers, 
robbers and thieves.” 

And later, on January 1, 1862, Gen. Halleck issued from depart¬ 
ment headquarters his General Order No. 1, the last paragraph of 
which reads as follows: 22 

“ While the code of war gives certain exemptions to a soldier regularly 
in the military service of an enemy, it is a well-established principle that 
insurgents not militarily organized under the laws of the State, predatory, 
partisan and guerilla bands are not entitled to such exemption; such men are 
not legitimately in arms, and the military name and garb which they assume 
cannot give a military exemption to the crimes which they commit. They are, 
in a legal sense, mere freebooters and banditti, and are liable to the same 
punishment which was imposed by Napoleon upon guerrilla bands in Spain and 
by Scott in Mexico.” 

18Reb. Records, Sec. 1, Vol. 8, p. 459. 

1 9 Reb. Records, Sec. 1, Vol 8, p. 463. 

2 0Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 8, p. 474. 

21 Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 8, p. 822. 

2 2Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 8, p. 476. 



12 


The Address. 


And on the same day Gen. Halleck wrote Hon. Thomas Ewing, 
at Lancaster, Ohio, as follows: * 2 ' 

u I am quite satisfied that nothing but the severest punishment can pre¬ 
vent the burning of railroad bridges and the great destruction of human life. 
I shall punish all I can catch, although I have no doubt there will be a news¬ 
paper howl against me as a bloodthirsty monster. * * * A plot was discovered 
on the 20th ult. to burn all bridges in the State and at the same time fire this 
city. Fortunately a part of the intended mischief was prevented. This is not 
usually done by armed and open enemies, but by pretended quiet citizens living 
on their farms. A bridge or building is set on fire, and the culprit an hour 
after is quietly plowing or worming in his field. There is no alternative but to 
enforce martial law. * * * * I have determined to put down these insurgents 
and bridge burners with a strong hand. It must be done; there is no other 
remedy. If I am sustained by the Government and country, well and good; if 
not, I will take the consequences.” 

On January 6, 1862, Gen. Halleck wrote Gen. Steele, then com¬ 
manding the Federal forces at Sedalia, Missouri, as follows: 24 

“ Greater caution should be observed in the matter of releasing prisoners, 
and hereafter no one will be released without requiring of him the oath of 
allegiance and parole of honor, the violation of which shall be followed by 
death.” 

The character of the foregoing orders having come to the know¬ 
ledge of the Confederate commanders, Gen. Sterling Price, who was 
at that time in command of the Confederate forces in the southwest, 
wrote Gen. Halleck, on Januarj' 16, 1862, protesting against their 
severity. In that communication he said: 25 

“Do you intend to regard members of this army as persons deserving- 
death whenever and wherever they may be captured, or will you extend to them 
the recognized rights of prisoners of war by the code of civilized world? Do 
you intend to regard men whom I have specially dispatched to destroy roads, 
burn bridges, tear up culverts, etc., as amenable to an enemy’s court-martial? 
It is vastly important to the interests of all parties concerned that these 
momentous issues should be determined. No man deplores the horrors of war 
more than I do; no man will sacrifice more to avert its destroying march.” 

To this communication from Gen. Price, Gen. Halleck, on January 
22, 1862, replied as follows: 26 

“ Let us fully understand each other on this point. If you send armed 
forces wearing the garb of soldiers', and duly organized and enrolled as legit¬ 
imate soldiers, to destroy railroads, bridges, etc., as a military act, we shall 
kill them, if possible, in open warfare, or if we capture them, we shall treat 
them as prisoners of war. But it is well understood that you have sent 
numbers of your adherents, in the garb of peaceful citizens and under false 
pretenses, through our lines, into northern Missouri, to rob and destroy the 
property of Union men, and to burn and destroy railroad bridge*, thus 
endangering the lives of thousands, and this, too, without any military neces¬ 
sity or possible military advantage. Moreover, peaceful citizens of Missouri, 

2 3Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 8, p. 475. 

2 4Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 8, p. 490. 

2r, Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 8, p. 496. 

2 6Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 8. p. 514. 







The Address. 


1 0 
O 

quietly working on their farms, have been instigated by your emissaries to 
take up arms as insurgents, and to rob and plunder, and to commit arson and 
murder. They do not even act under the garb of soldiers, but under false 
pretenses and in the guise of peaceful citizens. You certainly will not pretend 
that men guilty of such crimes, although specially appointed and instructed by 
you, are entitled to the rights and immunities of ordinary prisoners of war. 
If you do, will you refer me to a single authority on the laws of war which 
recognizes such a claim?” 

The correspondence between Halleck and Price on the subject 
seems to have been terminated with those letters. But it was soon 
afterwards resumed between Gen. Curtis, who had succeeded Halleck 
as the Federal commander in this department, and Gen. Holmes, who 
had succeeded Price as commander of the Confederate forces west of the 
Mississippi river. And in a letter written by Holmes to Curtis, dated 
October 11, 1862, Gen. Holmes seems to have stood firmly by the 
position taken by Price, and in his letter to Curtis he said: 27 

“We (the Confederates) cannot be expected to allow our enemies to decide 
for us whether we shall fight them in masses or individually, in uniform or 
without uniform, openly or from ambush.” 

Now, with affairs in that condition, with the Confederate author¬ 
ities contending on the one hand that they were authorized by the laws 
of civilized warfare to send men within the Federal lines to fight as 
individuals, or in masses, in uniform or without uniform, openly or 
from ambush, and with the Federal authorities, on the other hand, 
contending that under the laws of civilized warfare, they had the right 
to shoot down such men as robbers and murderers, is it strange that 
what did happen should have occurred? Is it strange that Confeder¬ 
ates should have come into Missouri to carry on the war in a manner 
justified by the Confederate authorities? And is it strange that 
Federal generals, in subordinate positions, should carry out the orders 
of their superiors ? How could such a state of affairs fail to lead to 
a guerrilla warfare on the one side, and military executions on the other? 

We have no desire to here criticise the position assumed by 
Generals Price and Holmes, further than to say, we believe they were 
wrong. We did not know Gen. Holmes here in Missouri, but we did 
know Gen. Price, and all who knew his benevolent and kindly nature, 
will readily believe he spoke from his heart when he said in his letter to 
Gen. Halleck “that no one deplored the horrors of war more than he 
did, and that no one would do more to avert its destroying march. ’ ’ But 
true it is that Price and Holmes took one view and Halleck and Curtis 
another, and such being the case, it was not in the power of either, 
without abandoning their positions, to avert the horrors and onward 
march of an internecine strife. 

But the orders from which I have quoted were not the only ones 


2"lleb. Records, Ser. 1, Yol. 13, p. 727. 





14 


The Address. 


under which McNeil was acting. On March 18, 1862, after his cor¬ 
respondence with Price, Gen. Halleck issued a still more stringent 
order, known as General Order No. 2, the third paragraph of which 
reads as follows : 2S 

“ Evidence has been received at these headquarters that Major-General 
Sterling Price has issued commission or license to certain bandits in this State, 
authorizing them to raise guerrilla forces for the purpose of plundering and 
marauding. Gen. Price ought to know that such a course is contrary to the 
rules of civilized warfare, and that every man who enlists in such an organiza¬ 
tion forfeits his life and becomes an outlaw. All persons are hereby warned, 
that if they join anv guerrilla band they will not, if captured, be treated as 
ordinary prisoners of war, but will be hung as robbers and murderers. Their 
lives shall atone for the barbarity of their General.” 

In this connection, and since the propriety of such orders are a 
subject for consideration, it is proper for me to say that the views of 
Gen. Halleck, as expressed in his orders and expounded in his 
works, marked him as one of the most distinguished of all modern 
thinkers and writers on the laws of war. It was because of his great 
learning and ability that he was called, by Mr. Lincoln, from his 
command in this department to Washington, where, as commander of 
the army, he sustained, until the end of the war, the closest official 
and personal relations with the President. 

It is also worthy of consideration that the orders of Halleck, 
when he was over McNiel, did not differ from the orders of those who 
came after him, and we find that on September 24, 1862, Gen. Samuel 
R. Curtis, who had been assigned to command the Federal forces in 
the department of the Missouri, as the successor of Gen. Halleck, 
wrote Gen. Loan, who then commanded in the Central Missouri Dis¬ 
trict, a letter in which he said: 29 

“ These bands of so-called partisan rangers sneak through the brush, 
with no emblems of war, and in the stealthy concealed garb of private citizens 
they seek to continue the business of stealing, robbing and murdering. They 
deserve no quarter; no terms of civilized warfare. Pursue, strike and destroy 
the reptiles.” 

Not only were the foregoing orders issued by the department 
commanders, but on July 22, 1862, Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble, who 
was as just and conservative a man as ever occupied the executive chair 
in this State, and who was, under the Constitution, Commander-in- 
Chief of the State militia, a force to which Gen. McNeil then belonged, 
issued Special Order No. 101, which reads in part as follows: 30 

“ The existence of numerous bands of guerrillas in different parts of the 
State, who are engaged in robbing and murdering peaceable citizens, for no 
other cause than that such citizens are loyal to the Government under which 
they have always lived, renders it necessary that the most stringent measures 
be adopted to punish all such crimes and to destroj such bands.” 

2 8Reb. Records. Ser, 1, Vol. 8, p. 612. 

2‘JReb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 13, p. 688. 

3 0Ap. to House Jour. 22nd Gen. Assembly, p. 43. 




The Address. 


15 


And Gen. John M. Schofield, an educated soldier and one of the 
most fair-minded men who ever commanded in any department, and 
who at all times possessed the entire confidence of Mr. Lincoln—being' 
at that time a brigadier-general of volunteers and in command of the 
State troops in Missouri—on May 29, 1862, issued from his head¬ 
quarters at St. Louis, General Order No. 18, which reads, in part, as 
follows: 31 

“Rebel officers and men are now returning to their homes, passing 
stealthily through our lines, and endeavoring again to stir up insurrection in 
various portions of the State where peace has long prevailed, and there still 
remains among the disaffected who have belonged to the rebel army a few who 
avail themselves of every favorable opportunity to murder Union soldiers and 
destroy the property of citizens. 

The Government is willing and can afford to be magnanimous in its treat¬ 
ment of those who are tired of the rebellion and desire to become loyal 
citizens, and to aid in the restoration of peace and prosperity of the country, 
but it will not tolerate those who still persist in their wicked efforts to prevent 
the restoration of peace where they have failed to maintain legitimate war. 
The time has passed when insurrection and rebellion can cloak itself under 
the guise of honorable warfare. 

The utmost vigilance and energy are enjoined upon all the troops of the 
State in hunting down and destroying these robbers and assassins. When 
caught in arms engaged in their unlawful warfare they will be shot down.” 

And on the same day that Gov. Gamble issued his order directing 
the organization of the State militia to destroy all guerrilla bands, Gen. 
Schofield issued from his headquarters another order, known as General 
Order No. 19, the first paragraph of which reads as follows: 32 

“Immediate organization of all the militia in Missouri is hereby ordered 
for the purpose of exterminating the guerrillas which infest our State.” 

But it is not our purpose to exonerate the name of McNeil by 
reflecting upon the good names of others, either living or dead. To 
some who served in far-away armies, and knew nothing of the situation 
here in Missouri, and to others who have grown up since the war was 
over, the orders of Halleck, Curtis and Schofield may seem exceedingly 
harsh, and it would be manifestly unjust to the memory of Halleck, 
Curtis and Gamble, who are dead, and to the reputation of Gen. 
Schofield, who is living, to quote as I have, from their orders without 
giving to those unfamiliar with the facts, some idea of the condition 
of the country and the circumstances that called those orders forth. 

That is a duty, however, in the performance of which I would not 
trust either to my memory or imagination. I go only to official sources 
for the statements I here .make, and for doing so on this occasion I hope 
no one will charge me with wantonly tearing open old wounds, or 
reviving old memories, which time has already done so much to heal 


3iR,eb. Records-, Ser. 1, Vol. 13, p. 402. 
3 2Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 13, p, 506. 




16 


The Address. 


and soften. All who know me will testify that I have never, from the 
day the war closed, consciously uttered one word to wound the feelings 
of those who fought honorably on the other side. But to-day I have a 
duty to perform, and in order to refute the charges against the memcuy 
of McNeil, and not injure the fair names of others, the truth must be 
stated, and the people of to-day must be made acquainted with the 
condition of the county, and the kind of warfare then being waged 
against the Federal forces, and loyal people of the State. It is for that 
purpose, and for that purpose only, I quote from the documents here 
referred to. 

In his official reoort to the War Department, of his operations in 
Missouri, from April 10 to November 20, 1862, Gen. Schofield makes 
the following statement of the situation: 33 

“The desperate and sanguinary guerrilla war which for nearly two months 
raged almost without cessation, may be said to have begun about July 30,1862, 
by the assembling of small bands under Porter, Poindexter and Cobb, who 
immediately commenced to rob and drive out the loyal people. * * * 

The principal theatre of operation at this time was the northeastern division, 
commanded by Col. McNeil; and a large portion of the St. Louis division, 
lying north of the Missouri river, commanded by Col. Merrill. United action 
in that district being necessary, that portion of the St. Louis division which 
lies north of the Missouri river was added to the northeastern division, and 
the whole placed under command of Col. Merrill. * * * New bands made 

their appearance in all parts of the State and commenced the work of robbery 
and murder, for which they had been organized. 

And Gen. John B. Gray, Adjutant-General of Missouri, in his 
report for the year 1862, states, that in the summer of 1862 a thorough 
system of organization was commenced by men who had returned from 
Price’s army, and that “they commenced a systematic plan of murder, 
robbery and outrage upon the Union men in every neighborhood.” 34 

And Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble, in his first message to the Twenty- 
second General Assembly stated the situation here, as follows: 33 

“ The people of most of the loyal States know nothing of the species of 
war through which we have passed. They send their sons to distant battle 
fields, they bear the interruption of ordinary pursuits and the burdens of tax¬ 
ation, but they know nothing of the horrors of war in which families each 
night fear that before morning they may be aroused by bands of armed men 
coming to plunder their dwellings and murder their protectors. Such war has 
prevailed in Missouri, and such has been the condition of many of her loyal 
people because of their fidelity to the Government. * * * 

The State militia and the few regiments of Federal cavalry found it diffi¬ 
cult to cover and protect the whole territory of the State, and the loyal citizens, 
being without military organization or arms, were exposed to constant outrage 
and murder.” 


3 3Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 13, p. 7. 

3 4Ap. to House Jour. 22nd Gen. Assembly, p. 83. 
3 5 Ap. to House Jour. 22nd Gen. -Assembly, p. 82. 




The Address. 


IT 


In the report of a legislative committee appointed by the Twenty- 
second General Assembly of Missouri, the situation in the State was 
thus described: 36 

u addition to the rebel armies in the borders of the State at the time 
of the expulsion of Jackson and the inauguration of the provisional govern¬ 
ment, assassinations, murders, robberies, thefts, arson and the whole catalogue 
of lesser crimes followed in the land as incident to the first great plunge into 
treason. These were some of the difficulties the provisional government of 
Missouri had before it upon its first accession to office, and which had to be* 
encountered previous to the restoration of peace and quiet to the country; and 
indeed, with all the assistance the Federal government had been able to render 
to Missouri, the State was continually infested with detachments of rebel 
soldiers, guerrilla bands, partisan rangers and bushwhackers, or pretended 
recruiting officers in the rebel service, until the month of November, 1863. 
Since that period it may be said that perfect quiet had been restored to 
Missouri from that quarter.” 

In an address sent by the loyal citizens of northern Missouri on 
January 1, 1863, to President Lincoln, the situation in Missouri was 
thus described : 37 

“Since the outbreak of the present rebellion, northern Missouri, in 
common with the southern part of the State, has been infested by hordes of 
lawless depredators, popularly known as guerrillas, though styling themselves 
‘Confederate soldiers,’ led by desperate and unprincipled men, having not even 
the form of official commissions from the authorities of the so-called Con¬ 
federate States, and whose modes of warfare have been only those resorted to 
and practiced by higlrway robbers, thieves, murderers and assassins. Not 
having from any source a recognition as belligerents, they have nevertheless, 
not scrupled to wage relentless war against the Government of the United States 
and the State of Missouri, and against the peace, safety and happiness of the 
loyal citizens of this State. In thus doing, they have causelessly murdered 
non-combatants by hanging, by shooting, by cutting their throats, and by 
divers other cruel, inhuman and outrageous methods. They have fired into 
railroad trains, killing and maiming soldiers and citizens, and placing in 
imminent peril the lives of women and children. They have burned and 
destroyed railroad bridges, thereby causing trains filled with non-combatants 
to be precipitated into streams, killing, drowning and wounding many persons, 
including women and children. They have in the darkness of the night sum¬ 
moned citizens to the doors of their dwellings and there shot them dead. They 
have deliberately and without provocation fired into dwellings, placing in 
extreme jeopardy the lives of the innocent and helpless persons.therein. They 
have abducted citizens from their dwellings and families and murdered them 
secretly, and by methods unknown to the community at large. They have 
practiced inhuman and diabolical cruelty upon prisoners in their hands, brutally 
whipping and hanging them until they were dead. And all this has been done 
for no other reason than that the parties thus murdered and outraged were, 
and had been, true and faithful in their allegiance to the United States. 

Nor have these depredations been confined to a few or remote localities. 
Every county, every community has thus been scourged, until scarcely a loyal 

3 6Ap. to House Jour. 22nd Gen. Assembly, p. 461. 

3 7Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 22, part 2, p. 4. 





The Address. 


18 

family has remained untouched. Thus these desperadoes desolated the whole 
land, establishing a reign of terror, * * * and for months thousands have 

been nightly driven to the woods and fields to find shelter from the fury of these 
prowling fiends.” 

In the statement of an officer of the army it appears that, in the 
summer of 1862, a Baptist preacher, named Wheat, was murdered by 
Confederate guerrillas, within five or six miles of Palmyra, and his body 
terribly mutilated; a farmer, named Carter, living in an adjoining 
county, suspected of having given information which led to the arrest 
of notorious bridge burners and railroad destroyers, was shot in his 
own door-yard and in the presence of his wife and children; a Mr. 
Preston, living but a few miles from the same neighborhood, was taken 
off and murdered; a Mr. Pratt, living a few miles north of Palmyra, 
known as a Union man, of the highest moral character, was murdered; 
a Mr. Squires, one of the oldest citizens of Shelby county, was taken 
from his house and hung and his body mutilated. A large band 
entered the town of Canton, in Lewis county, and murdered William 
Carnegy, a leading merchant well-known for his loyalty. Afterwards 
they went into Memphis, the county seat of Scotland county, and 
seized Dr. Ayalward, a prominent Union man, and hung him with a 
halter made of hickory bark, until he was dead. 38 

The steamer Marcella was captured by guerrillas at Dover Land¬ 
ing, and three soldiers of the 5th M. S. M. Cavalry found thereon 
were murdered. 39 

Later the steamer Gaty was captured on the river by a band of 
guerrillas and two soldiers and twenty negroes, found on her, were 
shot. 40 And on August 6, 1862, General Merrill reported that a 
guerrilla band had, on the previous night, entered a neighborhood in 
his district and murdered three Union men and carried seven away as 
prisoners. 41 

A verjr correct idea of the desperate character of this guerrilla 
warfare, as then carried on in Missouri, is given by Col. Switzler in 
his History of Missouri, where he describes the attack upon Centralia. 
He says : 42 

“The train being stopped, the guerrillas rushed into the cars with pistols 
cocked, demanding the pocketbooks and money of all the passengers. * * * 

There were twenty-three Federal soldiers on board the train. These they put 
under guard and marched them into the town, placed them in lines, and at the 
word ‘fire’ commenced murdering them. Several of them attempted to escape 
and begged for their lives, but they gave no heed to their entreaties and shot 
most of them dead in their tracks, although as the train approached, white 
fiags were seen flying from many of the car windows. Nearly all the soldiers 

3 8Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 22, part 1, p. 860. 

3 9Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 22, part 2, p. 541. 

^oReb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 22, part 2, p. 183. 

4iReb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 13, p. 542. 

4 2 History of Missouri, p. 438. 





The Address. 


19 


were shot through the head, and two of them were brutally scalped. * * * 

The work of destruction being completed they mounted their horses and left 
the town with savage yells in the direction of their camp.” 

The foregoing reports were made at the time. They show the 
conditions then existing in Missouri. Let the world judge whether 
the action of Halleck, Curtis and Schofield in issuing such orders for 
the suppression of that sort of warfare was, or was not, justifiable. 
I shall enter upon no general discussion of that matter now. I will 
leave it where the record leaves it. To-day I am only presenting the 
orders that justified the course of McNeil, as one of their subordinates. 
And to judge of the matter correctly it must be remembered that all 
the orders from which I have quoted had been issued, and all but one 
or two of the outrages described, had been perpetrated prior to the 
date of the Palmyra execution, and that the scenes of those events 
were largely within the district of country commanded by him. So 
desperate had become the situation in his military district, just prior 
to the Palmyra execution, that Gen. Schofield sent Capt. F. W. Reeder 
to ascertain and report the cause. After making his examination 
Reeder reported to Gen. Schofield, as follows: 43 

“I would respectfully state, that there are now numerous bands of out¬ 
laws and guerrillas infesting the northeastern portion of the State, varying in 
number from ten to one hundred, robbing and murdering the loyal population 
of that district. These bands have of late become so numerous, daring and 
reckless, that the Union people are fleeing in alarm from their homes. In fact 
the situation of affairs in that part of the country is said to be worse than it 
has ever been before.” 

He then went on in his report to say, that in a recent engagement, 
two-thirds of those who fought on the guerrilla side, were men who had 
once or twice before been captured and released on their oaths and 
paroles of honor not to again take up arms against the Government. 
The most of these men, he said, had been set afloat by the provost- 
marshal at Palmyra, notwithstanding the evidence against them was 
such that a rope with which to hang them would have been too costly. 
He closed his report, as follows: 

“One more item I would mention. The late General Order No. 3, in regard 
to rebels and rebel sympathizers , has as yet , in wo instance been enforced, and it is 
the opinion of many in that part of the country that, on account of the non¬ 
enforcement of that order in that region, it is regarded by the guerrillas and 
robbers as a mere threat and humbug.” 

It is easy to see, that up to the date of that report, the principal 
complaints against McNeil had been, that he was too moderate in his 
treatment of the guerrillas whom he captured. Instead of executing 
them, as his orders required, he had turned them loose upon their 
paroles of honor not to again take up arms, but time and again they 


43Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 13, p. 475. 




20 The Address. 

had deceived him and violated their paroles, the penalty for which 
was death. 

That McNeil’s policy had not been vigorous enough to satisfy his 
superiors in command, is also clearly shown by the specific instructions 
issued to him. On June 12, 1862, Gen. Schofield wrote him as 
follows : 44 

“I want yon to take the field in person, with as much of yonr force as 
can be spared, and exterminate the rebel bands of your division. * * 

Do not rest until you have exterminated the rascals.” 

And on July 11, 1862, Gen. Schofield again wrote McNeil, as 
follows : 45 

“ You were deceived in your belief that any portion of the State could 
be left without troops and the guerrillas not gather in force. The question is 
to remedy the evil Jhat has been done as soon as possible, and guard against 
the recurrence. After you have broken up and scattered the larger bands, 
your command should be divided into small battalions, each assigned to the 
care of a certain territory, and kept in motion hunting down the scoundrels. 
Do not be too moderate in the measure of severity dealt out to them. Carry out 
General Order No. 18 and No. 3 , thoroughly .” 

In connection with the foregoing special letter of instructions, it 
must be remembered that General Order No. 18, which McNeil 
was directed to carry out thoroughly, was an order that enjoined 
the utmost vigilance upon all the troops of the State in hunting down 
and destroying the guerrilla bands; and directed that all caught in 
arms should be immediately shot. 

It was after all the foregoing orders had been issued, reports 
made and special instructions given, that a guerrilla force, consisting 
entirely of citizens of the district in which McNeil commanded, rallied 
several hundred strong, under the leadership of Joseph C. Porter, 
and on the morning of September 12, 1862, a little before sunrise, 
they descended upon Palmyra, and after capturing, or driving away, 
the few pickets on guard, they entered the town after a lively 
skirmish, in which several citizens and a number of the Federal 
militia were killed and wounded. They captured all the arms they 
could find in the place, released all the prisoners from the jail and 
burned the provost-marshal’s office. They remained about two hours 
and then departed. But as they had entered the town a squad had 
gone to the house of Andrew Allsman, an old man not in the military 
service, aroused him from his bed and, despite the entreaties of his 
family, hurried him away, never to return. 46 McNeil was then at 
Monticello, where he had gone in pursuit of Porter, but Porter had 
eluded him, and in his absence captured Palmyra and carried Allsman 
away a prisoner. A messenger was set to McNeil and he was soon 

4 4Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 13, p. 427. 

4 5Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 13, p. 467. 

4 6History of Marion Comity, 476—482. 



The Address . 


21 


in pursuit, driving the guerrillas before him, capturing many, and as he 
pressed them harder and harder, by night and by day, they broke 
up into small bands, dispersed into the country and disappeared as 
an organized force. 

Andrew Allsman was a well known citizen and prominent Union 
man of Marion county, but was not then, as I have said, a member of 
any military organization. He was over sixty years of age, and when 
the guerrillas retreated they took him north into Lewis county, and 
when Porter’s force had been scattered and reduced to a band of from 
fifteen or twenty, they camped on the night of September 14th on the 
banks of Troublesome Creek. The manner of Allsman’s taking-off 
was as follows, as since stated by those who were with Porter at the 
time: 4 ' On the morning of September 15, 1862, Porter told Allsman 
he could consider himself at liberty. To that Allsman replied: “If 
you send me away without a guard they will kill me. I have enemies 
here who will kill me if they have the slightest chance.” He then 
chose three out of a guard of six men, who promised to guide him to 
the public road leading to Palm 3 r ra, or to the house of some Union 
man. With that understanding they left the camp; but they were 
followed, and before they had gone far the guard was changed. A halt 
was made, and Allsman was told he had then and there to die. His 
reply was: “If I have to die I am ready.” He asked that a 
message be taken to his family, but none was ever delivered. He was 
then told to dismount from his horse, and thereupon three of the men 
on whom he had relied for safe conduct, led him into some thick 
timber, where they directed him to kneel with his back to his 
executioners, and after he had uttered a brief prayer, the crack of two 
revolvers was heard, and two bullets crashed through his brain. He 
fell over upon the ground, and his white hair was stained and 
discolored in his own blood. The body was lightly covered with leaves 
and brush, and left to rot and shrivel in the solitude of an almost 
impenetrable forest, and the historian has said of Allsman, as it was 
said of Moses, that “no one knoweth his sepulchre to this day.” 

When McNeil returned to Palmyra, after having pursued and 
broken up the band under Porter, he found the Union people of that 
locality greatly excited with respect to the fate of Allsman. They 
did not know of his death, and the supposition was that Porter still 
held him a prisoner. McNeil then had in his hands a large number of 
prisoners, all of whom he had caught in arms in his pursuit of Porter 
and other guerrilla leaders, many of whom had been tried and 
found guilty of having more than once violated their paroles, and all 
of whom it was his duty under his orders to have shot, but which 


4 7History of Marion County, p. 492. 




22 


The Address . 


he had failed to execute. And, hoping, no doubt, by the means 
adopted to save the life of Allsman and also the lives of the prisoners, 
he caused to be addressed to Porter the following notice : 4S 
“ To Joseph C. Porter: 

Sir: —Andrew Allsman, an aged citizen of Palmyra, and anon-combatant, 
having been carried from his home by a band of persons unlawfully armed 
against the peace and good order of the State of Missouri, and which band 
w T as under your control, this is to notify you that unless said Andrew Allsman 
is returned unharmed to his family within ten days from date, ten men who 
have belonged to your band, and unlawfully sworn by you to carry arms against 
the Government of the United States, and who are now in custody, will be shot 
as a meet reward for their crimes, among which is the illegal restraining of 
said Allsman of his liberty, and if not returned, presumably aiding in his 
murder. Your prompt attention to this will save much suffering.” 

The foregoing notice was dated October 8, 1862, and a copy 
immediately sent to Porter’s wife, with whom he was known to be'in 
communication. The notice was also published in the papers and 
largely circulated throughout the district. 

The October days, one by one, wore away, but no tidings came 
of Allsman. McNeil’s orders were to shoot all whom he had caught 
in arms, but in the foregoing notice he offered to spare all their lives if 
Allsman was returned. But as Allsman came not, McNeil, on the 
evening of the ninth day, directed the provost-marshal to select ten 
men from among the prisoners who had by" their unlawful warfare 
forfeited their lives, and bid them prepare for death, and on the next 
day they were executed. 

And, with reference to the men executed, it may be fairly said, that 
whether they be looked upon as mere citizens, who had joined Porter 
for the purpose of carrying on a guerrilla warfare within the Federal 
lines, or whether they were regularly enlisted soldiers in the Confed¬ 
erate army who had come within the Federal lines to commit acts 
of war in the garb of citizens: in either case, they came equally 
within the terms of repeated orders issued for their extermination 
when caught. 

There was no lottery among the prisoners, or elsewhere, in 
selecting the men for execution-no shuffling of tickets, or mixing of 
white and black beans. 49 All statements of that sort are pronounced 
false by Mr. JR. J. Holcombe, the historian of Marion county, who 
prepared his work after having personal interviews with many wfflo 
were then present. Nor is it true, the same author says, that 
Hiram Smith volunteered to take the place of William T. Humphrey, 
one of the ten first selected. It is true that Humphrey w r as one of 
the first ten. He had been twice arrested and twice released on parole 


4 8Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Yob 13, p. 719, 
4 9History of Marion County, p. 497. 




The- Address. 


23 


tind bond not to again take up arms, but being out on parole the day 
Porter entered Palmyra with his band, Humphrey could have again 
joined him, but refused to do so, and when that fact was made known 
by Mrs. Humphrey to McNeil he reprieved her husband, and 
Hiram Smith, another member of Porter’s band, was selected to take 
his place. 

Speaking of the execution at the time, McNeil said: 50 N “I was 
compelled to do my duty as I saw it. I owed it to the Union men of 
north-east Missouri to make such an example in the case of Allsman 
as should insure the safety of others in the future. I selected none 
who did not come within my orders and w T ho had not, under the rules 
of war, forfeited their lives. I regretted the necessity, but it was 
better those ten men should be executed than that a hundred, or per¬ 
haps a thousand, Union men should be killed, which would certainly 
have happened unless that sort of warfare should be ended.” 

We agree that their execution was a dreadful event and we regret 
its necessity, but all fair minded men must now admit that their 
execution by McNeil was authorized and justified by repeated orders 
and instructions from his superiors, and, that the orders were 
believed necessary in order to terminate a species of warfare not 
tolerated by the civilized world. 

If any one asserts that McNeil was acting without instructions 
from his superiors, then we ask: What meant the order of Halleck of 
March 13, 1862, warning all persons, that if they joined any guerrilla 
band they would not, when captured, be treated as prisoners of war 
but would be hung or shot, as robbers and murderers? What meant 
the order of Curtis, saying guerrillas deserved no quarter, no terms 
of civilized warfare, and directing his subordinates to “pursue, strike 
and destroy the reptiles?” What meant the order of Gov. Gamble, 
calling out the militia of the State to destroy such bands? What 
meant the order of Gen. Schofield enjoining the utmost energy and 
vigilance upon all his troops in hunting down and destroying the 
guerrillas, and directing, that when caught in arms, engaged in their 
unlawful warfare, they should be shot down? What meant Gen. 
Schofield’s instructions to McNeil, telling him to take the field in 
person and exterminate the rebel bands in his division and not rest 
until he had done so? What meant Gen. Schofield’s instructions, 
telling McNeil not to be too moderate in the measure of his severity, 
and directing him to carry out General Order No. 18 thoroughly? 

Military orders are not issued for pastime in any army. They are 
imperative. They are issued to be obeyed, and any subordinate 


5 ^History of Marion County, p. 502. 





24 The Address . 

refusing obedience subjects himself to the severest penalties, including 
that of death. 

And now, when we look back over the scenes of those years and 
contemplate the kind of warfare then being waged against the 
Federal soldiers and Union citizens of his district, and when we run 
our eyes down over the repeated orders and imperative instructions 
issued to him, we can but marvel at his disobedience and forbearance. 

It is true the orders, issued to McNeil, now sound harsh and 
severe, but they were no more so than were those issued in other 
departments. On July 3, 1862, Gen. Grant issued from his head¬ 
quarters, at Memphis, General Order No. 60, in which he said: 51 

“ Persons acting as guerrillas, without organization and without uniform 
to distinguish them from private citizens, are not entitled to the treatment of 
prisoners of war when caught, and will not receive such treatment.” 

And Gen. Rosecrans, in his General Order No. 92, dated July 14, 
1862, said: 52 

“ Persons found making war without lawful organization or commission 
are enemies of mankind, and have the rights due pirates and robbers, which 
it will be our duty to accord to them.” 

The question of whether such orders as the above are justified by 
the laws of civilized warfare is deserving of brief consideration. Those 
who justify the policy of the Federal commanders ^contend that in order 
to reduce the cruelties of war to a minimum, the issues should be 
settled by wager of battle between organized armies, who should fight 
in masses, and be regularly officered, uniformed and disciplined, and 
that to tolerate any other system, leads to a conflict between indi¬ 
viduals who, when acting without organization or military discipline, 
or being accountable to either army, inaugurate a system of mere 
butchery, and thus add to the horrors of the situation, without in any 
degree aiding in the final triumph of either side. While, on the other 
hand, it is said by those who disagree with the Federal authorities,' 
that the people of an invaded country have a natural right to destroy 
their enemies, and all who aid them, and that they may, to that end, 
fight as individuals, or in organized armies, in uniform, or without 
uniform, openly or from ambush. 

I shall not undertake to settle the disputed question here. I 
merely say that a controversy existed, and that the policy of the 
Federal Government, which sought to confine the war to those regu¬ 
larly engaged in it, seems to be the more humane. It was the 
policy adopted by Washington when Capt. Huddy, of his army, was 
hanged by tory insurgents near Monmouth, New Jersey, during the 
closing days of our revolutionary war; it was the policy adopted by 

5iReb. Records, Ser. 1. Vol. 17, part 2, p. 69. 

5 2Reb. Records, Ser 1, Vol. 17, part 2, p. 97. 




The Address. 


25 


Napoleon, when his troops, in Spain, were attacked by guerrilla bands ; 
it was the policy adopted by Scott, when his troops were assailed by 
guerrillas in Mexico, and it was the policy adopted by King William 
of Prussia when, during the late Franco-Prussian war, he went with 
his arm}" into France. It was also the policy adopted by Gen. E. 
Kirby Smith of the Confederate army, in Kentucky, and even Mr. 
Randolph, the Secretary of War for the Confederate States, said, 
in a correspondence with Gen. Beauregard, under date of June 14, 
1862, that they, too, had justified the summary execution of persons 
who were not in the regular military service of the United States, for 
marauding and bridge burning. 53 

No military critic, or eminent writer on the laws of war, has ever, 
to my knowledge, condemned the course of the Federal commanders. 
All the great military leaders, to whom I have referred, justified 
their action, on the ground that those who take up arms and 
fight on their own account, without military organization or military 
discipline, are mere freebooters and murderers, who increase the 
effusion of blood without any corresponding benefit. Viewed in that 
light the orders issued by Halleck, Grant, Curtis, Rosecrans and 
Schofield, were humane rather than cruel, because they tended to put 
an end to a guerrilla, and partizan warfare, and confine the conflict 
to those legitimately engaged in it, and whose conduct was always 
open to criticism by the civilized world. And be the question of their 
propriety settled as it may, I have only referred to the orders to 
show that those issued here in Missouri were not different from those 
issued in other departments, and in both armies, and also to show, 
that those issued to McNeil, not only authorized, but required him to 
make the example he did. 

And now, in order that no doubt may be left in the minds of any, 
upon the question of his justification, our next inquiry is, as to whether 
the execution was, or was not, subsequently approved; for as I said 
in the beginning, if McNeil was not only acting under orders, but if 
what he did was subsequently approved by his superiors, then the 
responsibility, whatever it was, rested not with him. 

In order that all may understand who his superiors'in command 
then were, it is necessary for me to briefly outline the military organi¬ 
zation then existing: 

1st. Abraham Lincoln was President, and was, by virtue of his 
office, commander-in-chief of all the armies of the United States; 

2d. There was the Department of Missouri, which embraced the 
States of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and the Indian Territory; and 


5 3Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 17, p. 598. 




26 The Address. 

all the Federal troops in that department were commanded by Major- 
General Samuel R. Curtis; 

3d. There was the military district of Missouri, which embraced 
the State of Missouri, and all the Federal troops within that territory 
were commanded by Gen. John M. Schofield; 

4th. The State of Missouri was divided into military divisions, 
and a large portion of the State, north of the Missouri- river, was 
designated as the northeastern division, and all the Federal troops 
operating there, were commanded by Gen. Lewis Merrill. 

In addition to that, it must be remembered that McNeil was at 
that time an officer of the Missouri State Militia , a body of troops 
organized here, under an agreement made between Gov. Gamble and 
President Lincoln, and under an order of the War Department known as 
Special Orders No. 416, Gov. Gamble was authorized at his discretion, 
to dismiss and summarily remove from the service any officer of that 
force. 54 

So that over McNeil, and responsible to the State and National 
governments, as well as to the civilized world for his conduct, stood 
Lincoln, Gamble, Curtis, Schofield and Merrill. 

That Mr. Lincoln approved his action and considered it authorized 
by his orders and the condition of affairs then reigning throughout 
the State, is found in the fact, that after making careful inquiry into 
all the circumstances, 55 he rewarded McNeil and promoted him to the 
rank of brigadier-general of volunteers, and afterwards advanced him 
to the rank of Major-General by brevet, for gallant and meritorious 
services during the war. 56 

That Gov. Gamble approved his action, is found in the fact that, 
although clothed by the War Department with ample power to dismiss 
him summarily from the service, he never so much as uttered one 
word of censure. And afterwards, in a proclamation issued by him, 
October 12, 1863, one year after the execution, referring to the fact 
that certain parties in the State had accused him of having too much 
sympathy for the guerrillas, he said : 57 G ■ m 

“They accuse the executive of sympathy with the guerrillas and bush¬ 
whackers, yet they know that the order which I issued for the enrollment of 
the militia, and which was published in the papers, was made because of the 
existence of guerrillas in the State, and expressly declares that ‘the existence of 
numerous bands of guerrillas in different parts of the State who are engaged in 
robbing and murdering peaceable citizens, for no other cause than tbat such 
citizens are loyal to the Government under which they have always lived, 
renders it necessary that the most stringent measures be adopted to punish all 
such crimes and destroy these bands.’ ” 

r ‘ * Ap. to House Jour. 22nd Gen. Assembly of Mo., 54. 

■> * * * 5 Century Magazine, July 1889, p.476. 

so Historic Register U. S. A., p. 444. 

5 7Ap. to House Jour. 22nd Gen. Assembly cf Mo., 134. 




The Address. 27 

He then said that from the date of that order, of the preceding 
year, calling out the militia, - there had been no order issued, words 
uttered, or act done by him with the intent of screening real guerrillas 
from punishment. ” 

The evidence that Gen. Curtis approved the action*of McNeil is, 

' we tllink ’ found in the fact that without uttering one word of disapproval 
he, on October 23, 1862—only a few days after the execution—wrote 
Gen. Loan, then commanding the Federal forces at Lexington, Mo., 
as follows: 38 

“I trust that you may be able to create some terror in the rebel camps 
near Lexington. Their complaints are always evidence of the activity of my 
forces, and though I always hear, I am not ready to condemn my friends. 
Decisive and active measures are scattering and scaring the bands out of the 
States 9 The river counties are now the worst.” 

And, later on, when Jefferson Davis, through Gen. Holmes of the 
Confederate army, demanded the immediate surrender of McNeil to the 
Confederate authorities for punishment, Gen. Curtis refused to sur¬ 
render him. 60 

And finally, the evidence that Gen. Curtis, both ordered and 
approved the execution, will more clearly appear in the statement of 
Gen. Lewis Merrill from which we hereafter quote. 

That Gen. Schofield approved the action of McNeil is evidenced 
by the fact, that instead of censuring him, he recommended him for 
promotion. Not only that, but he issued orders, a year afterwards, 
as commander of the department of the Missouri, authorizing further 
executions of the same sort. 

On August 25, 1863, he issued from department headquarters 
General Order No. 86, which reads, in part, as follows: 61 

‘‘Large numbers of men are leaving the broken rebel armies in the 
Mississippi valley and returning to Missouri. Many of them doubtless come 
back with the purpose of following a career of plunder and murder under the 
form of guerrilla warfare, while others would gladly return to their homes as 
peaceable citizens, if permitted to do so and protected from violence. * * * 

All such persons may surrender themselves and their arms to the nearest 
military post and will be released upon taking their oath of allegiance and 
giving bond for their future good conduct. * * * 

All who fail to comply with these conditions, and shall remain within our 
lines without renewing their allegiance, will be treated as criminals according 
to the laws of war. Those who shall engage in robbery, murder , or other crime , 
will be exterminated without mercy” 

And within a month after the date of the foregoing order, guerril¬ 
las and marauders were summarily executed by Col. Crittenden at 

ssReb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 13, p. 758. 

59Referring, unquestionably, to the recent Executions in North Missouri, 

6 0Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 22, part 1, p, 879. 
oiReb; Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 22, part 2, p. 474. 



28 


The Address. 


Tipton, by Col. Lazaer at Warsaw, by Lieut.-Col. Brown at Clinton, 
and others were shot by Col. Hall. 62 

And finally, the evidence that McNeil's conduct received the 
approval of all his superiors, is found in the fact that, during one month 
preceding the Palmyra execution, Gen. Merrill shot two guerrilla 
prisoners at Mexico, three at Huntsville and eleven at Macon City, 
and neither Lincoln, Gamble, Curtis or Schofield ever questioned the 
propriety of his action. 63 

Gen. Merrill is an educated soldier of the regular army. He now 
resides in Philadelphia, and on January 22, 1880, more than fourteen 
years ago, he wrote McNeil a letter from Ft. Yates, Dakota, that was 
published in the National Republican of Washington, D. C., on February 
7th of that year, which ought, we think, to forever silence every 
insinuation and charge of wrong and cruelty against the name and 
memory of McNeil in connection with the Palmyra affair. No one 
can read the letter without admiring the manly frankness of its author. 
In it he said : 

“ From amoDg some five hundred guerrilla prisoners then in our hands, 
ali of whom had been fairly and patiently tried, and all of whom had been con¬ 
victed and sentenced to death, some twenty in all were selected and their 
sentences ordered executed. In no case had the criminals selected been con¬ 
victed of less than two violations of parole, several of as many as six. In 
every case selected the criminal had, in addition to the violation of parole, 
been convicted of one or more murders and other outrages almost as bad. 
Among the criminals selected ten, as I now recollect the number, were under 
your immediate control at Palmyra. Shortly before this a powerless and 
peaceful old man had been captured and abducted by some of these bands. 
You saw fit, in ordering the execution of these criminals, to publish a proclama¬ 
tion that the return of this old man to his home would result in these men 
being pardoned. This proclamation was widely circulated but produced no 
effect, and at the time fixed for the execution of the sentence, the men were 
duly executed, as were the others at Macon City and Mexico. You were at that 
time my subordinate officer and both were under the command of Gen. Curtis. Both 
the latter officer and myself had full knowledge of what you did and fully approved. 
It had been previously sanctioned and ordered , and we could at any moment have 
stopped it had not the conviction, after long and painful consultation of the demands 
of duty , compelled adherence to the decision that the sentence in these cases must 
be executed. * * * 

The only part of your conduct which did not previously have the sanction 
of myself and Gen. Curtis, was your offer of clemency to these men should the old 
man be returned to his home. While both would no doubt have approved of the 
clemency, it was the only part of your acts which did not have previous sanction. 
No notice appears to have been taken of the other execution, and no reflections 
were ever made, that I know of, either against Gen. Curtis or myself, although 
equally responsible with yourself, and indeed having greater responsibility, in 
that ice were your superior officers and could have stopped your action had duty 

6 2Ap. to House Jour. 22nd Gen. Assembly of Mo., 325. 

6 3Reb. Records, Ser, 1, Yol. 13, page 611—660 & 661. 




The Address. 


29 


allowed it. lou have long suffered from falsehood and misrepresentation in 
this matter, and it gives me great pleasure to do what I can to right you. 

Not only did Gen. Merrell write as above in 1880, but thirteen 
years afterwards, in a letter addressed to Gen. John W. Noble—dated 
at Philadelphia, Oct. 7th, 1893, he said: 


“At the time the Palmyra execution occurred, I was in command in North 
Missouri, and Gen. McNeil was one of my subordinates. He was in command 
of the sub-district of Palmyra, and directly under my own orders, my head¬ 
quarters being at Macon City. The whole of that country, as every one is 
aware who knows anything of the condition of things at that time, had been 
for months overrun with guerrilla bands, who were not in any sense members 
of any regular organization. They were not in uniform and were wholly 
separated from any Confederate command, and were, by the laws of war, 
mere outlaws. Hundreds of them had been captured, tried by military com¬ 
mission, and in many instances sentenced to death. At last it became 
imperatively necessary that this miserable, cruel warfare should be checked, 
and the only way which promised any good results was by making some 
examples. Of the prisoners selected, some were at Macon City, some at 
Palmyra, and some at Mexico, and upon the day named in my order, these 
sentences of the Military Commission upon these criminals—duly tried and 
convicted, and their sentences approved by me—were executed. Gen. McNeil 
was in no manner responsible for the fact that these sentences were ordered 
executed. He was responsible only for his obedience to my order. He had 
no right to change or suspend the order, and would have been subject to trial 
for disobedience had he attempted it. The responsibility rested entirely with 
myself and upon my sense of duty. I have never had a duty to discharge 
which was more painful, or which I did with greater reluctance, but mercy to 


those men would have been the bitterest cruelty to the whole of North 
Missouri. The example had become imperatively necessary, and the effect of 
the execution was shown in the fact that it finally and permanently ended all 
that sort of practice in that part of the State. Something has been said in 
the way of reproach of Gen. McNeil from the fact that he published an order 
preliminary to these executions, reciting the fact that an old man (whose name 
as I recollect it was Allsman) had been violently taken from his home by one 
of these guerrilla bands and was believed to be in their possession, or to have 
been murdered. As I recollect, the latter proved eventually to have been the 
fact. With a view of saving his life, Gen. McNeil issued an .order, or 
proclamation, which he spread broadcast over that part of the country, 
demanding that Allsman should be returned in safety, or, failing in that, the 
sentence upon these guerrillas at Palmyra would be executed. By this order, 
it was attempted to establish that Gen. McNeil was personally and wholly 
responsible for the execution. This proclamation of McNeil’s was not 
submitted to me previous to its being issued, and did not have my antecedent 
approval. My belief is that McNeil thought it an excellent opportunity to save 
Allsman’s life, if he was still living and, as he subsequently told me, he did 
not doubt that had Allsman been produced alive, I would have remitted the 
sentences of the men ordered executed. As that event did not occur, I cannot 
say what I would have done had matters turned out as McNeil had hoped. 
Doubtless I would have respected his pledge, although he had no ng ^- 

General^I^have given you a correct outline of wliat transpired. You will 


30 


The Address. 


recognize that these facts are ample justification of McNeil, and that there 
never was any such responsibility as was sought to be placed upon him. He 
was cruelly and falsely maligned, and to the end of his life was made to 
suffer an injustice and hostility for which there was no possible justification 
in anything he had ever done. His services with me made me very familiar 
with his character and conduct. A truer man and patriot never lived, and no 
braver soldier ever drew breath. His conduct in all regards was beyond 
reproach and beyond the possibility of praising too highly. Honorable, 
upright of character and habits; of clean-cut notions of right and wrong, and 
always doing the right, I have never read of a death which touched me more 
deeply or which I more profoundly mourned than his. He never had the 
full meed of honors which belonged to him for his thorough patriotism and 
ability.” 

What clearer vindication could any soldier have for the execution 
of an imperative but disagreeable order? Gen. McNeil never made 
any attempt to shield himself from criticism by shifting the 
responsibility upon others. He went silently to his grave, permitting 
thousands to believe that the execution of those men was a wanton, 
willful and unauthorized act of cruelty on his part, when he could 
have shown, far better than we have to-day shown, that their execution 
was a bitter but deliberate act, ordered by his superiors, and justified 
by the policy of his Government. 

But, years after, when McNeil was mpst cruelly assailed, then came 
his old commander, whom every one can see is every inch a soldier, 
and told the story for him. In doing so he said: “You were at 
that time my subordinate officer, and Doth were under the com¬ 
mand of Gen. Curtis. Both the latter officer and myself had full 
knowledge of what you did and fully approved. It had been pre¬ 
viously sanctioned and ordered, and we could at any moment have 
stopped it had not a conviction of duty compelled adherence to our 
decision that the sentences in those cases must be executed. The only 
part of your conduct which did not previously have the sanction of 
myself and Gen. Curtis, was your offer of clemency if the old man 
(Allsman) had been returned to his home. While we no doubt would 
have approved your clemency , it was the only part of your conduct ichich 
did not have our previous sanction.” 

Upon that testimony, who that fought on either side , can here¬ 
after say the heart of McNeil was not gentler than his orders, and 
who can say that he deviated from his orders except on the side of 
mercy. 

That Gen. McNeil, himself, considered his conduct justified by 
his orders and the rules of civilized warfare, is abundantly shown by 
the action taken by him when the Confederate authorities demanded his 
surrender to them for punishment soon after the execution took place. 
The record shows that when Jefferson Davis learned of the execution 


31 


The Address. 

he wrote Gen. Holmes, then commanding the Confederate forces west 
of the Mississippi river, inclosing a newspaper account of the affair, 
and in his letter to Holmes he said : 64 

“ You will communicate by flag of truce with the Federal officer com¬ 
manding that department, and ascertain if the facts are as stated. If they be 
so, you will demand the immediate surrender of Gen. McNeil to the Confeder¬ 
ate authorities, and if this demand is not complied with you will inform said 
commanding officer, that you are ordered to execute the first ten United States 
officers who may be captured and fall into your hands.” 

When McNeil learned of the demand upon the Federal authori¬ 
ties for his surrender, knowing that Davis was a trained and educated 
soldier, and believing that no military tribunal north or south , would, 
upon the facts, condemn him, he immediately telegraphed Mr. Lincoln, 
saying that with his permission he would go to Richmond and 
surrender himself to Mr. Davis. 65 Mr. Lincoln withheld his permis¬ 
sion, and soon afterwards, as I have already stated, made him a 
brigadier-general of volunteers. 66 

That the policy of his superiors in ordering the execution of 
these men had the effect of restoring peace to a section of countrj’ 
that had long been in a state of terror and dismay, and was 
justified on that ground, is shown by the testimony of more than a 
thousand citizens of Clark, Lewis and Shelby counties, who, on Jan- 
uary 1, 1863, sent Mr. Lincoln a memorial address, protesting against 
the surrender of Gen. McNeil to the Confederate authorities. In 
speaking of the effect of the execution upon the state of the country, 
they said: 67 

“ It (the execution) was to give safety and peace to this distracted 
country, and assure the now almost incredulous people that the Government 
was not utterly powerless for their protection. It was a stroke absolutely 
essential to teach those bands that they could not and should not with 
impunity outrage the rights and sacrifice the happiness and safety of whole 
communities. The act has achieved its desired purpose. The law and the 
supremacy of our Government are vindicated. The citizens have returned in 
peace and safety to their homes. They are no longer assassinated at pleasure 
by lawless ruffians. They feel in truth, that they have a Government that is 
able and willing to cover them with its protecting shield.” 

And it is a fact, shown by the official reports, that immediately 
after the execution, McNeil rode, with but two orderlies, from post to 
post throughout his whole district in perfect safety. 68 

The record not only shows that the summary executions at 
Huntsville, Mexico, Macon and Palmyra, in the fall of 1862, had the. 


6 4Reb. Records, Ser. 1, Yol. 22, part 1, p. 838. 

6 sHistory of Marion County, Mo., p. 510. 

6 6statement of Gen. Merrill in St. Louis Globe-Democrat of April 2 1889. Also Century 
Magazine, July, 1889, 478. „ 

'3 7Reb, Records, Ser. 1, Yol. 22, part 2, p. 5. 

6 8Reb, Records, Ser. 1, Yol. 22, part 1, page 864. 



32 


The Address . 


effect of immediately restoring peace in those sections, but it also 
shows that the executions at Tipton, Warsaw and Clinton, a year later, 
had the same effect. Speaking of the latter executions, Gen. E. B. 
Brown, in a letter to a committee of the Missouri legislature, dated 
February 10, 1863, said: 69 

“ So general had this become, and of such an aggravated character, that 
there existed a necessity for a stringent and summary disposition of the 
offenders, whenever and wherever they were caught. An opportunity for such 
measures soon followed in the cases I have cited, and examples were promptly 
made, which have been attended with the most gratifying effect—restoring 
peace and quiet and safety to all alike, and bringing men back to a proper 
observance and reverence for the laws. The examples thus made have saved 
to a section of Missouri, already devastated by a civil war—attended with 
barbarities and atrocities unparalleled-further scenes of robbery, rapine and 
arson and effusion of blood, which fully atones for the irregularity, and justi¬ 
fies the summary method by which they were effected.” 

What McNeil desired above all things was peace and good order 
in his district. He detested robbing, marauding and murder, when 
committed by the one party as much as when committed by the other, 
and hence it was that on November 7, 1862, when some of the Federal 
militia in his district were reported to have plundered peaceable 
citizens, whom they accused of being disloyal, he issued the following 
order : 70 

“The General commanding has learned with profound mortification and 
regret of many acts of oppression and violence towards peaceful people, by the 
enrolled militia in parts of this district. The perpetrators of those acts will 
be ferreted out and punished, as such conduct is in direct violatinn of reported 
orders, as well as of all rules of military decorum and is utterly subversive of 
military discipline. The good soldier can never be a marauding plunderer; 
the brave officer can never be the tyrant of a defenseless people. Those dis¬ 
graceful practices must cease, or the perpetrators of them will be hunted down 
like guerrillas. They are the enemies of mankind and a disgrace to the service 
in which they are enrolled, and the greatest obstacle to the return of peace 
and quiet to the country.” 

McNeil was a man who always acted upon his convictions. He was 
never afraid to do his duty. He was first to strike in open battle, but 
to a fallen foe he was first to bind up the wounds. He cherished 
malice towards no man who fought him in the open field. As Grant said 
to the tired veterans of Lee’s exhausted army : “ Take your horses, you 
will need them to put in your crops,” so McNeil, when the war was 
over, was one of the first to say: “Give back to every citizen his 
ballot.” There are hundreds now living, and many here present, who 
‘remember him as he stood up in his party convention at Jefferson City 
in 1870, and said : 71 

69 App. to House Jour. Mo. Legislature, 325. 

?0History of Marion County, Mo., p. 525. 

7i From Stenographic Report of Proceedings. 



The Address. 


33 


<c Mr. Chairman: We have reached a crisis in our political affairs in 
Missouri. We must now act. It is as much the duty of parties as of men to 
be honest. No one who is afraid to stand by his convictions can long command 
the respect of the people, and the same is true of parties. If we are in favor 
of restoring the franchises to those who participated in the rebellion, we ought 
to say so and say it unequivocally in our platform. There should be no 
evasion. The war is over. Peace now reigns throughout the State, and I for 
one believe the time has come when every man can be enfranchised with safety. 
The party that preserved the Government for the people should not be afraid 
to restore it to them. The issues on which we were divided in war have 
passed into history, and in my judgment the surest way to bring back those 
who erred and make them again love the Union, is to restore them to all their 
rights as citizens. I had hoped this convention would so declare, but if it has 
not the courage to do so, I shall invite those who believe with me, to follow me 
across the hall into the Senate chamber, where we will organize a convention, 
announce our principles, and appeal to the people for their endorsement.” 

Never did man display greater moral courage, or broader states¬ 
manship. We have reared here to his memory an humble monument 
of granite, but long after it shall have crumbled away, the historian 
and philosopher will find in his words and conduct an example of fear¬ 
less patriotism, which must be taught and followed if the principles of 
free government are to be enduring. 

The intelligent people of this country, when they know the facts, 
can always be relied upon to do justice to the memory of brave soldiers, 
either of the North or South. The lips of our comrade are forever 
sealed, but the record of the times and of the orders under which he 
acted, endure in the archives of the nation, and I trust no one will say, 
that in referring to those disagreeable events, I have been actuated by 
anything but an earnest desire to exonerate the name of a brave 
and generous comrade from imputations cast upon him by frequent 
repetitions of a mistaken and unjust charge. I have gone carefully 
through the records and other historic sources of information, and 
have endeavored to present in a full and faithful manner all the facts 
connected with the affair, and on what is there found I submit his 
conduct as a soldier, to his countrymen. I have not on this occasion 
assailed the motives of any one. I have said 1 believed that execution 
the legitimate result of a mistaken policy on the part of the Con¬ 
federate authorities, but I have not said, nor do I believe that the 
Confederate authorities were actuated by anything more than a natural 
desire for the final triumph of a cause on which they had staked, and 
to which they would then have gladly given, their own lives. We were 
divided then on many questions, and I only hope that from the terrible 
events of those years we may be taught greater forbearance, and such 
respect for the Constitution and the law as will bring to our country 
and our people an enduring peace. 



34 


Extracts from Minutes . 


EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF 
FRANK P, BLAIR POST, No, 1, AND OF ITS COMMITTEE, 


On January 16th, 1893, Comrade F. M. Sterrett mo ml that a 
committee of ten be appointed to consider and report upon ways and 
means of placing a suitable monument over the grave of Comrade John 
McNeil, which motion was adopted. 

On February 13tli the following named comrades were appointed 
such committee, to wit: F. M. Sterrett, Leo Rassieur, Charles G. 
Stifel, Charles F. Vogel, Nelson Cole, Christian Stawitz, Adolphus 
Busch, Wells H. Blodgett, Statius Kelmnann and Gustav Cramer. 

On February 20th, the Committee temporarily organized and 
adopted the following resolutions which were concurred in by the Post, 
to'wit: “The Committee then resolved to constitute itself a Committee 
on subscriptions, each member being authorized to receive subscrip¬ 
tions ; it being the intention of the Committee to procure the necessary 
subscriptions through the members of Blair Post, so that it might be 
truthfully said as a part of the inscription on the monument, that the 
same was erected by the Blair Post; it was also resolved to com¬ 
municate with the family of Comrade McNeil and obtain his widow’s 
consent to the erection of a monument on the lot where his remains 
are interred.” Comrade Gustav Cramer having requested to be 
excused from service on the Committee on account of insufficient time 
' to discharge the duties connected therewith, Thomas B. Rodgers was 
' appointed in his place. 

On March 6th, permanent organization of the Committee was 
reported as follows: Comrade F. M. Sterrett was chosen Chairman 
of the Committee, Leo Rassieur,Secretary, and Nelson Cole, Treasurer, 
thereof. Comrades Busch and Stifel asked t.o be relieved from service 
on the Committee owing to want of time to properly perform the duties 
thereof, and on March 13th, Post Commander Scott accepted their 
resignations and appointed Comrades C. E. Soest and Arnold Beck 
members of the Committee in their places. At the same meeting con- 
. sent of the family was reported for the erection of the monument to 
Gen. McNeil at Bellefontaine Cemetery. 

On May 2nd, the Committee through its Chairman, Comrade 
Sterrett, reported to the Post that the Committee had contracted for 
the monument at a cost of $1145.00, which action of the Committee 
was ratified. 




Extracts from Minutes. 35 

On May 8th, Comrade Stawitz resigned as a member of the Com¬ 
mittee, which resignation was at once accepted, and on May loth, 
Comrade Fred. Wulfing was appointed a member in his stead. 

Comrade Sterrett, Chairman of the Committee, on October 16th, 
made the following report: 

“Your Committee appointed to erect a monument to the memory 
of Comrade John McNeil, beg leave to report substantial accomplish¬ 
ment of the purpose of their appointment, and herewith submit the 
specifications and plans of the monument, as prepared by Messrs. 
Hodges & McCarthy, and based upon which, the contract was made to 
erect the monument for $1145.00. 

Subsequently a bronze plate was ordered at an additional expense 
of $150.00, which will bear the following inscription, to wit: “In 
Memory of John McNeil, Brigadier and Brevet-Major-General U. S. 
V., born in Nova Scotia, Feb. 4, 1813, died in St. Louis, June?, 1891. 
‘Soldier rest; Thy warfare o’er. Sleep the sleep that knows not 
breaking.’ Erected by Comrades of Frank P. Blair Post, No. 1, 
Dept, of Mo., G. A. R.” 

At the last meeting of the Committee, a marker for the grave of 
the General was ordered at an expense of $27.25. Since the lot upon 
which the body is interred has three graves on it, it seemed desirable 
to have the grave of the General supplied with a marker, and thus dis¬ 
tinguished from the remaining graves.” 

The Committee also reported that it had held thirteen meetings, and 
that the total collections, in accordance with the report of the Treasurer 

of the Committee, Comrade Nelson Cole, amounted to.$1384.00 

and that the outlays would be as follows, viz: 

Postage, printing and stationery.$ 50.75 

Monument.1145.00 

Bronze plate. 150.00 

Marker...$52.25 

(less contribution of $25.00 by 

Hodges & McCarthy). 25.00 27.25 

Total outlays.. 1373.00 

Balance in the hands of the Treasurer. $ 11.00 

The Committee recommended to the Post the adoption of the 
following resolutions, viz : 

First: Resolved , that the dedicatory exercises of the McNeil 
Monument be held May 30th, 1894, in view of the fact that the grave 
cannot be properly located until after November 1st, and in view of 
the further fact that the sodding of the lot cannot be properly done 
much before that time. 












36 


Extracts from Minutes. 

Second: Resolved, that the Treasurer of the Committee be di¬ 
rected to pay the contractors, with the understanding that they shall 
hereafter locate the grave as required by the Committee, and have the 
sodding of the lot done to the satisfaction of the Committee. 

Third: Resolved further * * * that the action of the Com¬ 

mittee be approved in all particulars and this report be spread upon 
the minutes of the Post in full. 

Fourth: Resolved further, that the balance remaining in the 
hands of the Treasurer be turned over to the Quartermaster, and that 
the same be expended in keeping the lot of Comrade McNeil properly 
cared for during such time as it will pay for.” 

The foregoing report of the Committee, together with the resolu¬ 
tions therein set forth, were unanimously adopted. Upon motion of 
Comrade Maxwell it was resolved that the thanks of the Post be 
extended to the Committee on McNeil Monument and that the Com¬ 
mittee be retained to take charge of the dedicatory services, in con¬ 
junction with the Memorial Day Committee. 

Thereafter Comrade Cole, Treasurer of the Committee, reported 
the result of the subscriptions in detail, the total being as heretofore 
reported, to wit: $1384.00. 

On February 5th, 1894, contractors Hodges & McCarthy presented 
a photograph of the Monument to the Post. A supplemental report 
was also made on that day by the Treasurer, showing additional 
collections to the amount of $6.36, which were turned over to the 
quatermaster. 

On April 2nd, 1894, the selection of Comrade Wells H. Blodgett 
as orator was reported by the Committee and unanimous^ ratified. 

On May 28th, Rev. Mr. Anderson was selected as minister to officiate 
on the occasion of the dedication, and thereafter the Committee 
reported, asking for authority to prepare for publication, and publish 
in pamphlet form, 4000 copies of the address and programme 
at the dedication of the monument, together with the minutes and pro¬ 
ceedings of the Post and Committee bearing upon the erection of the 
same, which was granted. 




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